Parallel World

X. Angel

ANGEL MADE HER WAY quickly through the market, eyes lowered and head down as she attempted to conceal herself in the busy street.

The only reason people were out tonight was because of the full Moon. No one in Wayward could see without it.

Shouldn't be too hard to stay hidden, she thought to herself. She was shorter than average. It would be hard to spot her among the throngs of people worming their way through the streets, stocking up on groceries until the next full Moon.

Angel rubbed her shoulder gleefully. There was no way she'd be disturbed tonight. She would do what needed to be--

"Silver," a low voice said.

Shit. Couldn't she keep her ass concealed for one moment?

She slowly turned, already knowing who the voice belonged to. There was no one else who called her Silver, no one else who would nickname her after the color of her eyes. It was cheesy. He was cheesy. He was stupid.

She liked the name anyway.

Arkin Zystor did not belong in Wayward. It was obvious from the first moment you looked at him that he was a Paravaldian. No one in Wayward was born with natural white hair and violet eyes. Without the Sun, no one's skin was as golden as his. But it was those mauve eyes that did the most damage. They held so much mischief that you didn't have to know him to be aware of just how much trouble he could cause. Anyone who had ever seen him knew to stay the hell away--especially girls, if they wanted to keep what they had.

But that didn't stop Angel from falling right into that herself. She had met Arkin in Paravald. In her world, everyone was gorgeous, but her purple-eyed demon had the sort of charm you had to be born with. It was what kept her coming back to the Military Bacs--or Mil Bacs--everyday. For three years, he had trained to become a soldier, and for 1,095 days, she had sat on whatever platform she could--a chair, a mat, the floor--watching him train with his unit.

Training in the Mil Bacs was impressive enough. But it wasn't about strength in the Bacs--it was about power. Angel never told Arkin that he was the most Gifted out of his entire unit; he was cocky enough to already know it.

But as Arkin climbed higher in the Bacs rank, Angel's life began to fall apart. She couldn't stay in Paravald anymore. Not after what happened. So two years ago, Nylie and Angel decided to escape. To Wayward.

The last day that Angel visited Arkin in the Bacs, when she told him she had to leave, he said nothing. Made no farewells. But when it was time to depart, he just ... folllowed her. Gave no explanations. He just dropped everything and went with her.

Angel had never told him how much it meant, that he had given up everything for her. The bright future he could've had in Paravald. Nor had she ever told him how much she had cried the night before, dreading the moment she'd have to tell him she was leaving.

But he had known. Had seen her red-rimmed eyes, her puffy cheeks. And had automatically known that she wanted to stay with him.

And so he had left. For her. She still didn't know what that meant. Didn't want to think about it too much. But they were friends, and friends didn't leave each other behind.

She smiled as she turned to face him.

Arkin was not amused. "Stop smiling," he snapped. Angel jumped about a foot in the air. "Let's not pretend we're happy to see each other."

She crossed her arms. "Actually, you're just the person I wanted to see."

"What the hell are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?"